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This article was written on 14 Oct 2015, and is filled under LisaRankin.

Forget the 5 second rule….if you drop it on the floor pick it up and eat it.

By now everyone has heard the word probioic but does everyone really understand why they are useful. Within our bodies we have trillions of different bacterial species living with our GI Tract which has been callled the microbiome. There are also other micobiomes within our body in different body parts like the nasal passages and mouth and throat. Ideally our bacterial flora should be diverse and will even contain some “Bad” guys. In an ideal environment the bad guys will be kept in check by the “good” bugs and everyone lives nicely together.

Because of our changing diet, use of antibiotics, antibiotic useage in animals raised for human consumption, exposures to toxins in the environment, and chronic stress this diversity has diminished and we see the proliferation of undesired bacterial species. The bugs in our great grandparents gut was very different from ours and that of individuals living in developing countries is very different from that of primitive cultures that still exist today.

Bacteria are not passive in our bodies and they are responsible for producing many good things like B vitamins, fatty acids, antibiotic-like substances and even converting inactive thyroid hormone to the active form. Without these bacteria we would all DIE! When they bad guys take over we start to see an increase in the production of substances that can be harmful and lead to autoimmune, inflammatory disorders, obesity and even mental health disorders that are typically not seen in less developed cultures. A majority of the diseases we see in our country are directly related to changes in our GI tract related to lifestyle and envrionmental exposures.

This is a FACT and not really up for discussion. Now we need to face the fact that unless we change our diet and that of our kids and unless we take active measures to correct our microbiome and decrease these negative variables many of the symptoms and disorders we find ourselves and families suffering from will never get better. We can talk about it and even use medications but it will NEVER get better and we are both wasting our time.

There are some very low tech things we can all do to have a big impact on our health. Diet changes, adding foods like cultured yogurt that have live bacterial cultures in them, using probiotics daily to help repopulate our GI tract, exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, spending time outside in nature, and removing as many distracting and stressful inputs from our lives. These are interventions that will need to be lifelong in order to continue to have an ongoing benefit and we will be more than happy to help you make these positives changes in your life.